Fading Glory
by smileynoel97
Summary: When I find myself in Inkheart, not all things go well. Rated T just in case, please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello all! I do not own any Inkheart characters nor Inkheart. If I did….oh the possibilities! Please R&R!**_

I got off the bus, heading home. Sighing and clutching my book closer to my side, I opened the door, going up the stairs to my room. Something was out of place. I stopped. What could it be? My surroundings seemed to be changing and I could hear screaming.

"It's the shadow! Run!"

This phrase was being repeated over and over.

'Lord…where am I?' I prayed in my head, looking around and stopping in terror when I saw it. The beast, the _Shadow,_ call it what you like, was coming straight towards me. What could I do? Run? No. Running wouldn't help. Not much would. 'Jesus please help me. Please, anything.' I just stood there, fear growing on the inside, my outside showing no expression.

"What is she doing?" It was whispered but I heard it. Whoever said it must be close. The shadow came nearer and nearer. I realized I was shaking a little. I was terrified. Never had I been so scared in my life.

"Stop." This was not whispered but said in a loud voice, appearing to be a command. As soon as it was said, the Shadow came to a halt. I fell to the ground, just to have someone jerk me up. I was still shaking a little.

"Brave little thing."

"That or stupid."

The one who said the latter was the one grabbing me. His voice was overly sweet and his nose was artificial.

"Poor thing seems to be scared," one man sneered sarcastically.

"Probably Piper's ugly nose."

Most of the men started laughing, everyone except what appeared to be Piper.

"Very funny." he said angrily. "At least I have more sense than the rest of you idiots." Piper gripped my arm tighter when he said this and I could feel the circulation cutting off.

"Why Piper, you're hurting the girl! That's hardly nice."

"Shut up! If you're so concerned about her, why don't you hold her?" he shoved me to the other man who dismounted from his horse and caught me.

"Hello there, sweetheat. What's your name?" he asked me with a smirk. When I didn't answer he seemed amused. "C'mon. I'll tell you mine. I'm Jack." I just stood there, frozen.

"Bring her to me." It was the guy from earlier who stopped the shadow, which was now nowhere to be found. He was obviously the leader. Jack complied and brought me over to him.

The leader seemed to inspect me with his colorless eyes. They sent a chill up my spine. I had never seen someone with such.

"Can you not speak, girl?" he asked me, his face showing no emotion.

"I can, sir." I replied, looking down.

"What a pity. Too many women are mouthy. Hopefully you won't be the same, will you?" The question only had one answer by the way he said it.

"No sir."

"That's what I thought. What's your name?" I didn't want to tell him. His voice was cold, icy."

"Hannah."

"Well, Hannah, you're going to do exactly as I say. I'd hate to get Basta over here to cut open that pretty little face of yours. I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen either, now would you?"

I shook my head.

"Good. Firefox, make sure she doesn't escape."

"Yes, my lord."

With that, Firefox bound me and put me on a horse, tying me and the horse to his.

What had I gotten myself into?


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope somebody is reading this. Please review. In fact, if you review and give me a random name, I'll make from that name…a character! So review…**

I shuddered. Whatever it was I had gotten myself into, it wasn't good.

'Bravo, Hannah! All you have to do is be minding your own business and then you unexpectedly find yourself in a different place where everyone is wearing medieval clothing and strange creatures almost attack you, not to mention you're currently being kidnapped and have no idea what they're going to do with you.'

A few hours later we arrived at a fortress looking place, though it could be easily mistaken for a small castle. Firefox dismounted his horse and rather rudely pulled me off the one I was riding.

"Take her to Mortola and tell her to separate this one from the rest of the maids." the leader told him.

"Yes, Capricorn," he replied. So that was the man's name. But why was he named after a zodiac sign? Why wasn't he curious about where I came from?

'Guess I'll find out later…..'

I was jerked out of my thoughts as Firefox shoved me.

"Get a move on," he told me roughly.

"Be careful with her," Capricorn told him. "I want her unharmed if I'm going to give her as tribute."

"Tribute?" I asked, finding my voice.

"Yes, tribute. We have to pay the Adder and you came just in time, didn't you?" Firefox said to me mockingly.

I didn't respond to that. I wanted to ask who the Adder was and what kind of 'tribute' they were talking about but I also kind of didn't want to know. Who would? I just let him lead me to Mortola, who wasn't very happy to have to take care of me on such short notice.

"It's not my orders, it's Capricorn's! Just take her, Magpie! And she's the tribute so handle her carefully." There was that word again. _Tribute. _

"_Hurry up, girl! I haven't got all day." snapped Mortola. _

"_Sorry," I mumbled, following her. "Miss?" I asked after a while._

"_What?" her tone still wasn't friendly at all._

"_What kind of tribute are they talking about?" _

"_What kind of tribute do you think, you idiot?" _

_By the nasty glance she gave me, I guessed I was supposed to know. But I didn't. I was scared and lonely with a cranky old woman who seemed to dislike me very much. And I felt like crying. Though I didn't want anyone to see me break down or fall out or anything so I bit back the tears and didn't say anything else. Eventually, Mortola opened up a door and shoved me into a room that resembled a cell. Though I couldn't really see much of it. It was dark and musty but nether less, I was extremely happy to be away from that witch. She seemed glad to depart from me too, for she slammed the door shut and locked it. I waited until she was out of earshot and then let my tears come. _

"_Why?" I asked myself, pulling my knees up to my chest and putting my arms around them, sobbing to my heart's content. Or at least I was going to do that, until I was aware of a set of eyes on me._


	3. Chapter 3

**I want to give a big thanks to Guest and CAPTAIN for being my first two reviewers! And Guest, wanted to tell you that I'll be adding more Jack/Basta but it only let me review once per chapter so I just decided to put it up here. And CAPTAIN, I'll make sure to fill in your request. I don't own anything, as always, except for myself. Enjoy!**

"Who are you?" I asked the stranger, backing away from him or her.

"It's okay. I'm Dustfinger. I won't harm you."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth?"

"You don't, but we're both in here together, so trust me or not, we'll be together for quite while."

He seemed to be innocent enough and he was much friendlier than the rest of the people there.

"Where _is here? I don't know what's happening and no one else will explain."_

_Dustfinger sighed before answering._

"_You're at Capricorn's fortress."_

"_I know who Capricorn is, but why does he want me? And why does he want you?"_

"_I'm a personal enemy of one of his followers, Basta."_

"_Oh…." I said. "I'm sorry to hear that, but what about me? They said something about tribute to the Adder. What are they talking about, and who's the Adder?"_

_Dustfinger looked at me sadly, shaking his head in disbelief. _

"_Surely they wouldn't give someone as young as you. Do you know how old you are?" _

_Did most people not know how old they were around here?_

"_Fifteen, almost sixteen. And you haven't answered me."_

"_Fifteen…." Dustfinger said under his breath before continuing. "The Adder…..he's the prince of Argenta. Capricorn has to pay tribute to him by giving him things like silver, whatever he's in the mood for. I'm afraid that….he's been looking for more maids. Capricorn already has a few, but they're much older than you." _

_I let out a sigh. _

"_Well, it could be worse, I guess." _

"_Yes, it could," Dustfinger said with a wry smile._

_Suddenly, the door opened. It was the Jack guy from earlier. _

"_What could be worse, huh Dirtyfingers?" he asked mockingly. "I see you got to enjoy the last few minutes with some company." Jack looked at me when he said the last part, giving me a smile. "Nice to see you again, Quiet One." _

"_What do you want, Basta?" Dustfinger asked, saving me a reply._

"_Not you, Dirtyfingers. Capricorn wanted me to fetch the girl."_

"_Wait….you're Basta? But I thought you were Jack."_

"_Did I say Jack? I'm still getting used to the new name. Now come on, Capricorn doesn't like to be kept waiting."_

_I got up and eyed him, afraid of what Capricorn wanted me for. It couldn't be anything good. But then again, It usually never was. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Ugh….I keep forgetting to take off the italics when I'm done with it….Oh well. I hope all of you enjoy! **

Basta/Jack grabbed my arm and led me out of the cell, making sure the door was bolted good. It was kind of awkward, me and him just standing there for that moment.

"So…how did you get your other name?" I asked.

Basta (I had decided it best to think of him under that name) grinned, as if he had wanted me to ask him exactly that.

"Capricorn found me worthy so he gave me 'Basta'. After all, Jack hardly suits me."

I looked at him for a moment, wondering what he'd done to 'prove himself'. It was probably best I just kept quiet again, which was killing me considering I loved to talk.

"The Adder will like you, you don't have much mouth." Great, now I knew I wouldn't be saying anything for a long while if I wanted to stay safe.

"Um…Thank you? But…why does Capricorn want me?"

"It's not Capricorn who wants you. The Adderhead just arrived." How could he say something like that so simply? Personally, I didn't like the whole 'Let's kidnap her and pretend like she has no cares or feelings' thing. But then again, if they were going to do that, I had a few tricks up my sleeve. There, the old Hannah was returning. And rather quickly, too. I never had been one to stay down for too long and I adapted to hard situations rather easily, after all that had happened to me before.

But there was one thing that was bothering me. All of this seemed to connect somehow. The Adderhead, Capricorn, Basta, Dustfinger, Piper, Firefox, it was all vaguely familiar.

'_The Fire-Raisers, as they were called, went from village to village. They would set fire to every innocent farmer's house that was too poor to pay taxes to their leader. Evil ruled the land of Argenta, but still there was hope. The Black Prince was one of few who stood up, sometimes accompanied by his best friend, Dustfinger.' _

"That's it!" I said aloud, not meaning to.

"What's it?" Basta asked, stopping.

"I…nothing."

Basta's eyes narrowed.

"It'd be best for you to tell me, sweet heart. I'm not someone who likes to play around." he growled, pulling me closer to him and looking me in the eye.

"It really is nothing," I replied.

"Somehow I don't believe you." he pulled out his knife. "I'd hate to cut up such a pretty face like yours, but….." he traced his knife over my face. "don't think I won't."

"I-"

I was cut off as someone bumped into me.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I replied. "I wasn't paying attention either. I'm Hannah, by the way."

The girl smiled. "I'm Idril, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you t-"

Basta angrily interrupted by jerking me around to face him.

"I suggest you answer me right now. I'm not the idiot Idril takes me for. I don't let someone off the hook just because they were knocked down."

What was he talking about? Wait-Idril must've bumped into me on purpose when Basta drew his knife, hoping it would cause a distraction and he would forget what he was about to do. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked.

"Dustfinger…he told me something when we were in the cell and I didn't understand it. I just figured it out. He told me to be careful. It really was nothing at all.

Whether Basta believed me or not, I didn't know. For a very impatient Mortola came out.

"What's taking you so long?! You're supposed to already be there! _Hurry up!" she snapped._

_Basta pulled me along and you could tell he was biting back a smart comment towards her. _

"_Witch," he muttered, gripping my arm harder. It hurt, but it wasn't as bad as fear that came when we stepped into one part of the fortress._

"_That's the one I was telling you about," Capricorn said to a man whose back was facing, but not for long. He turned around slowly, his snakelike green eyes looking me up and down._

"_I'll take her."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you, Icon, for reviewing! It means a lot to me!**

Fear. Nothing but it. I started to panic on the inside. What was going to happen to me?

Capricorn looked at the Adder.

"Don't you want to know more about her?" he asked. "Not that I know much either. Thing doesn't speak much."

This made my blood boil. Thing? I was a human being, not a _thing_. But I bit my tongue and looked at the ground, pretending not to care.

"But she can speak?"

"Yes, my lord."

I heard the Adder walk towards me and felt like running. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, making it harder to stand still.

"Lift your head up, girl." he told me and I looked up but didn't look him in the eyes. I had remembered reading somewhere that it was disrespectful for a woman to look a man in the eyes during the Middle Ages. "This one will do well. She knows where she stands. What's her name?"

"Hannah." Capricorn replied, his colorless eyes falling on me. I loved my name and loved to hear it, but when Capricorn uttered it, nothing about it was likable.

"Keep her with you for a while longer. She doesn't look like she's had much experience before. Bring her in a month."

One month…maybe I'd be out of there by then. How hard could it be to escape? None of the men there looked too bright. I was only wary of Basta and Piper at the moment.

"Basta will watch over her." Capricorn said. "Now about…" Capricorn was saying something to the Adder but I didn't hear the rest. Why Basta? I sighed mentally. Just my luck.

"Come on," Basta said, grabbing my arm and pulling me out.

"Basta? Dustfinger told me that there were more maids to b-"

"Maids? Is that what that soft hearted fool told you?" Basta gave short laugh.

"What do you mean?" I asked worriedly and Basta looked at me.

"You really don't know, do you?"

"No, I don't. Please tell me. Please." Tears were forming in my eyes and I angrily wiped them away. This was no time to start being upset. Basta seemed hesitant to answer at first. Why?

'That question goes through your head a lot, doesn't it Hannah?'

"I-you-Dustfinger had better tell you. After all, it was that idiot who lied to you."

"Okay," I said quietly, looking at the ground.

I didn't exactly know what else to say. I didn't _want to say anything else. _

"_Go on," Basta said when we reached the cell._

_I walked in, watching him close the door behind me. _

"_Dustfinger?" No response. Was he even in there? It didn't seem like it. _

_Great. I was alone the cell. All alone._


	6. Chapter 6

**I stopped writing for a while because I've been very busy with school, but now I'm back. And I would like to put out there that this story is not going to be filled with any bad content, as in rated M material things. This is rated T just in case, mainly for violence in later on chapters. I just wanted to throw that out there a little. However, there is something coming up (no, it won't be M material either) and it's an off run of something my friends and I made up a long time ago.**

**Thanks,**

**Smileynoel97**

I was tired of crying. Tired of being alone. To be honest, I was tired of a lot of things at the moment, which wasn't surprising considering my current case.

"Why," I groaned hoarsely, my voice strained by all the crying I had done. Yet then I laughed a little. "Who would've thought if I could have anything in the world right now that I'd ask for a tissue?" Funny the things you think about when you have the time. Though now that I did have the time to think, I had many other things on my mind.

For instance, I had wanted to visit a book ever since I was little. When I was in sixth grade, I read Inkheart, and then I knew exactly where I wanted to go to. But now…I just wanted to be back home. I was finally in the place I had dreamed of and I couldn't be happier elsewhere.

Why was that? I had imagined myself as brave in all situations in the book and now here I was, practically swimming in a river of tears that I had shed not even in the past hour. I had really overestimated myself. Really overestimated.

I needed to do something and I needed to do it soon. If I didn't, there may be no way out. No way to do anything but live the rest of my life as a slave to the bounds of the Adder, and that was NOT my intention.

"Come on, think of something," I told myself. "Anything." I sighed. Why was it so difficult now?

I was brought out of my current state when someone knocked on the door. I quickly stood up, feeling sore as I did so.

"I'm supposed to take you to the other maids," Basta said, walking in.

"Okay," I said quietly, not wanting to talk to him or anyone else in that cursed place. Unfortunately, there were a few things that I needed to figure out for myself. "Please, tell me what they meant."

"I told you to ask Dirtyfingers."

"He wasn't in there."

"He what," Basta whispered, angrily looking at me.

"He…he wasn't in there. He got moved somewhere else, didn't he?"

Basta got a relieved look on his face.

"Apparently," he acted as if he hadn't doubted his enemy's inability to escape for second. I, however, didn't, considering I had never heard that he had moved anywhere else.

"Does that mean you'll answer my question?" I asked hopefully.

Basta looked as though he were thinking about whether to tell me or not. After a while, as it seemed, he sighed a little.

"Every month Capricorn sends a maid, well, slave rather, to Mount Adder."

"Only that?" I felt as if my situation were a little better than I had thought it to be.

"You won't be able to leave, and you won't be paid like the rest of the maids."

"But what about the others that he was sending?"

"They'll be able to leave and they'll be paid, though I wouldn't doubt that it'll barely be enough to visibly see. They wanted to go so that they'd be able to 'help their poor children'," Basta snickered. "They'll be the ones needing help by the time they get out of there."

He seemed to look like he was pleased by this, as if the very idea was a humorous one. I looked at him in somewhat disgust, not thinking any of it was of the sort.

I just stayed silent for the rest of the way. I had no other reason to speak, especially since it seemed that talk was rather looked down upon here.

"Get out of my way, Oropher!" Basta snarled suddenly when a man stepped in his way.

Oropher, caught by surprise at Basta standing there, glanced up in shock. He obviously hadn't intentionally done anything.

"Sorry," Oropher grumbled, grudgingly stepping out of Basta's way.

"Here you are," Basta said, practically pushing me into the maid's quarters where they were working. He seemed to dislike the place greatly, seeing as he ran off without saying or doing else wise.

And just when I though I was actually off the hook, Mortola stepped up. I sighed internally. I should've known Basta wouldn't have just left me on my own.

**Would anyone else who reviewed like two characters of their own? If so, just post the name for the girl and the boy! **


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